A number of devices have been used in the molding and baking of desserts to obtain molded desserts in a variety of configurations. Molded dessert apparatus for a variety of shaped configurations have been described in the prior art but domed desserts are somewhat rare because of the complexity in preparing same. While cakes are commonly referred in the literature to as being domed, in effect this is an occurrence which comes about as the batter expands during baking and does not equate to a hemispherical or semispherical shaped cake.
Historically, it was known in the prior art to bake bread bowls which were semi-spherical loaves of hollow cavity bread into which salads or soups could be placed. A conventional bread bowl is typically made by forming raw bread dough on the top of a simple inverted bowl which is then placed into the oven for baking. Bread bowls made in this manner often rise from the inverted bowl so that the same presents an uneven appearance, requiring trimming and waste.
Hemispherical shaped or dome cakes are popular in Italian dessert cooking and are generally known as “Zuccotto”. These cakes are prepared by slicing previously baked sponge cake (Pan di Spagna) into thin, vertical slices, lining the interior of a bowl with plastic wrap and lining the plastic wrap in the bowl with overlapping pieces of the sponge cake slices. The slices of cake are then sprinkled with liquor and the dampened assembly is then covered with a plastic wrap and refrigerated. A center mixture of chocolate or other filling is poured into the cake lined bowl and the bottom or exposed surface of the filling is covered with other slices of cake. The entire cake is allowed to set for a number of hours, preferably overnight, inverted onto a platter and dusted with confectioners sugar. As can be seen, the process for making this cake is quite laborious in time and resources required. It has been found desirable to mold or form desserts or cake into a layered hemispherical or semi-spherical dome shape which can be baked and/or frozen and marketed as a specialized cake shape similar to the Italian “Zuccotto” cakes as the same make an elegant presentation. “Batter” as used herein in the application is meant to encompass cake batter, malleable ice cream, gelatin or a malleable dessert which sets up in a rigid or semi-rigid shape.
Many prior art devices and techniques mold and bake dough of breads, batters of cakes, cookies, and other baked goods into various shapes including containers which may be used to hold other foods. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 4,812,323, issued Mar. 14, 1989, discloses a method for molding and baking cookie dough into a cup shape which can then be used to hold ice cream or other fillings as does U.S. Pat. No. 3,296,956, issued Jan. 10, 1967, which also discloses a molding and baking apparatus for the baking of bread dough into a cup-like shape. U.S. Pat. No. 1,487,906, issued Mar. 25, 1924, discloses a pan for baking cake batter into a container shape for holding ice cream.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,601,012, issued Feb. 11, 1997 discloses a baking bread bowl with a flat bottom and an outwardly extending flange to produce a uniformly shaped bread bowl. This bowl has a concavo-convex body with an outer extending edge flange which extends from the open edge and doubles back from the axially outermost extent to form a raised edge. This construction and shape was arrived at to attempt to solve the above noted problem with existing bread bowls.
Another prior art reference is a U.S. Pat. No. 5,948,313, issued Sep. 7, 1999 which is directed toward a mold assembly for making a baked edible shell. The mold assembly is constructed of an outer mold shell and an associated inner mold shell, the outer mold shell having a curved main portion with a central opening and an outer rim extending in a plane. The inner mold shell has a curved main portion with a central chimney shaped to pass through the outer mold central opening. The outer mold opening comprises a raised circular rim with an inwardly directed flange. The outer edge of the outer mold shell is formed with a rolled-up rim. When the edible material is being cooked, a metal strip with curved ends is mounted over the rolled rim of the outer shell mold as seen in FIGS. 4 and 5C issued to hold both mold-shells in relative positions to eliminate expansion of the edible material during cooking.
A baked layered product with an apparatus for making same is shown in U.S. Pat. No. 3,831,507, issued Aug. 27, 1974. This baking assembly uses three baking pans to form a cylindrical bunt bowl body and lid which is placed over the body.
In all baking pans, it is desirable to facilitate the partial escape of moisture from these apparatuses in order to develop a degree of porosity in the final baked product. The present invention solves the complex construction problems in assemblying a domed cake or dessert through the use of a simple apparatus.